GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) – A Minnesota man faces a murder charge in what authorities say is a bad batch of synthetic drugs circulating in the northern Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota.

Eighteen-year-old Adam Budge of East Grand Forks is accused of supplying the synthetic hallucinogens that authorities say killed 17-year-old Elijah Stai of Park Rapids, Minn., last Friday.

Budge faces murder, manslaughter and controlled substances charges. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had obtained a lawyer. A telephone listing for him could not immediately be found.

Police have linked a second death to the synthetic drugs case. Eighteen-year-old Christian Bjerk of Grand Forks died on June 11. Twenty-two-year-old Andrew Spofford of Grand Forks faces a reckless endangerment charge in that death. His attorney declined immediate comment to The Associated Press.

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